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MAKHACHKALA, January 20. /ITAR-TASS/. Special forces have started storming one of two houses in Makhachkala, the capital of the Russian North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, where suspected militants are believed to be hiding, a law enforcement source said Monday.

On Monday morning, a counter-terrorism operation was launched in a Makhachkala district. Two houses were blocked, according to law enforcement agencies.

“The wife and children of one of the militants went out during talks. The militants refused to go out. The special operation entered its active phase,” the source said.

Russia’s law enforcement agencies and police continue fighting militants in Dagestan over 13 years since the battle phase of the second war against Islamist separatists in the neighboring Chechnya came to an end in 2000.

Attacks on security officials and civilians are frequent in Dagestan, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria as an Islamist insurgency, once confined mainly to Chechnya, has spread across the volatile region.